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Key points
- Calgary writer and poet, citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta
- Treat Them as Buffalo is a 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalist
- Shortlisted for the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award
- The Writers' Trust winner is announced November 10, 2026
Blair Palmer Yoxall is a Calgary writer and poet and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Their novel Treat Them as Buffalo, published in 2026 by HarperAvenue in Canada and Algonquin Books in the United States, takes readers to the Prairies in 1885 and puts Métis women and families at the centre of the story. It is one of five finalists for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be awarded in Toronto on November 10.
A writer years in the making
Yoxall has been building a body of work for more than a decade. Their writing has appeared in glass buffalo, The Fiddlehead and Carving Space. They won the 2015 Striking Prose Competition and the 2019 James Patrick Folinsbee Prize in English. Their fiction was also shortlisted for the 2017 Norma Epstein Foundation Award and the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award, which honours work by Indigenous writers in Canada.
Treat Them as Buffalo
The novel is set in Saskatchewan in 1885, a year of upheaval for Métis people on the Prairies. It follows a Great Plains Métis community through the eyes of its twelve-year-old narrator, Niko Eriksen. When Niko’s cousin disappears and the authorities refuse to investigate, the community organizes its own searches. A rancher named Kate McCannon leads a group that confronts the Mounted Police, and Niko’s own search uncovers a surprising truth about his heritage.
Leah’s Books, an independent bookseller, described Yoxall as “an exciting new Indigenous writer.” The novel is part mystery and part family story, and its young narrator gives readers a way into a turning point in Prairie history that many Canadians learned about only briefly in school.
What the jury saw
The Writers’ Trust jury, made up of writers David Chariandy, Conor Kerr and Kathleen Winter, wrote that Yoxall “has brought the reader into the fraught times of the prairies in 1885.” They pointed to the book’s portrait of “the fierce, resilient Métis women” who “run the show in the face of colonial violence and community destruction.”
That focus matters. Stories of 1885 are often told through famous men and battles. Yoxall instead shows a community holding together, looking after its own and refusing to stay quiet when the system fails it. For Métis readers, it is a story told from inside the community. For everyone else, it is a chance to see 1885 from a different side.
On the Writers’ Trust shortlist
The Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize is one of Canada’s major awards for fiction. This year the winner receives $70,000, and each finalist receives $7,500. Yoxall shares the 2026 shortlist with Zak Jones, Téa Mutonji, Lisa Robertson and Ashraf Zaghal. The winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards on November 10, 2026.
Where to learn more
You can read Yoxall’s author page and the full jury citation on the Writers’ Trust of Canada website. Treat Them as Buffalo is available at bookstores across Canada.
Questions and answers
What is Treat Them as Buffalo about?
Set in Saskatchewan in 1885, it is narrated by twelve-year-old Niko Eriksen. When his cousin disappears and the authorities refuse to investigate, his Métis community organizes its own searches.
Who publishes Treat Them as Buffalo?
HarperAvenue publishes it in Canada, and Algonquin Books publishes it in the United States.
When is the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize announced?
The winner will be announced at the Writers' Trust Awards in Toronto on November 10, 2026. The winner receives $70,000 and each finalist receives $7,500.
